The present invention relates to a method of disassembling a large-caliber combat cartridge which is composed of a propelling charge casing and a sub-caliber projectile equipped with a propelling sabot. The propelling charge casing includes a combustible casing jacket, a casing bottom and a casing cover that is conically tapered toward the propelling sabot. The sub-caliber projectile is fastened to the casing cover and the casing jacket conically widens toward the casing cover so that it has its maximum diameter at the transition to the casing cover. The invention further relates to the use of the cartridge components obtained by the method according to the invention for the production of new cartridges, particularly for training purposes.
At present, many armies have the problem of having amounts of combat ammunition, particularly armor-piercing ammunition, stored in ammunition bunkers, which, however, will not be needed within the foreseeable future. Thought has therefore been given to how this ammunition can be economically converted to training ammunition. For this purpose, the combat cartridge must first be disassembled which generally requires opening the propelling charge casing at the connecting surface between the combustible casing jacket and the casing cover and removing the projectile together with the casing cover. The combat projectile is then replaced by a training projectile and a casing cover which are connected with the propelling charge casing. For this purpose, the new casing cover and the old casing jacket are connected with one another, for example, by means of glue.
Problems arise particularly in the disassembly and reuse of the disassembled components of older combat cartridges that can be fired from tank cannons. These cartridges are often equipped with a casing jacket that--for reasons of manufacturing technology--conically slightly widen toward the casing cover. It has been that, if such cartridges are stored for a longer period of time, the larger diameter and additionally created imbalance of the casing jacket at the casing cover may cause difficulties in loading. For that reason, cartridges have already been manufactured in the past that have cylindrical instead of conical casing jackets, with the diameter of the casing jacket being selected to be slightly less than the maximum diameter of corresponding cartridges that have a conical casing jacket.
In order to be able to utilize existing stocks of combat ammunition having conical casing jackets for the production of training cartridges, such cartridges have in the past been disassembled in such a way that the casing bottom as well as the projectile can be reused with a new guide mechanism. The casing jacket, however, was removed and replaced by a new cylindrical casing jacket.
The drawback of such a method is that many process steps are required for the disassembly of the old as well as the assembly of the new cartridge (removing the screws with which the casing cover is fastened to the projectile, unscrewing the casing cover, disassembling the safety ring and spring sheet at the bottom of the casing and corresponding assembly during the production of the new cartridge, disposal of the conical casing jacket and the casing cover, etc.).